Recommended Windows Package Management Tool

Having been used to the convenience of using Homebrew to install software packages on Mac, I recently installed a Windows system on my company’s computer and wanted to set it up similarly. The solution is Scoop, which I am recommending today.

Scoop is an open-source project that primarily uses commands to install Windows software packages. It effectively avoids permission pop-ups, hides GUI wizard installations, automatically finds and installs dependencies, and automates the installation process.

Official website: https://scoop.sh/

Open-source project address: https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Scoop

Additionally, Scoop packages can be part of a git repository, commonly referred to as buckets. You can view these buckets on GitHub at https://scoop.sh/#/buckets. You can also easily create your own buckets.

Environment Preparation

Windows 10 Pro 19044.1586
Latest version of PowerShell or Windows PowerShell 5.1
The PowerShell execution policy must be one of the following: Unrestricted, RemoteSigned, or ByPass.

Installing Scoop

Run this command from a non-admin PowerShell to install Scoop with the default configuration. Scoop will be installed in C:\Users\<YOUR USERNAME>\scoop.

During installation, you may be prompted to change the policy:

PS C:\Users\wnote> iwr -useb get.scoop.sh | iex
Initializing...
PowerShell requires an execution policy in [Unrestricted, RemoteSigned, ByPass] to run Scoop. For example, to set the execution policy to 'RemoteSigned' please run 'Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser'.
Abort.
PS C:\Users\wnote> Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser                                                 
Execution Policy Change
The execution policy helps prevent running untrusted scripts. Changing the execution policy might expose you to security risks. For more information, see about_Execution_Policies at https:/go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=135170
Do you want to change the execution policy?
[Y] Yes(Y)  [A] Yes to All(A)  [N] No(N)  [L] No to All(L)  [S] Suspend(S)  [?] Help (default is "N"): Y
PS C:\Users\tarena> iwr -useb get.scoop.sh | iex
Initializing...
Downloading ...
Creating shim...
Adding ~\scoop\shims to your path.
Scoop was installed successfully!
Type 'scoop help' for instructions.

PS C:\Users\tarena> scoop update
Updating Scoop...
Updating 'main' bucket...
Scoop was updated successfully!

If your network cannot connect to the official address, you can add a proxy:

`1`	`irm get.scoop.sh -Proxy 'http://<ip:port>' \| iex`

For those who do not want to install to the default path, you can specify a custom path. Refer to install.ps1 at https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Install/blob/master/install.ps1:

`1`	`.\install.ps1 -ScoopDir 'D:\Applications\Scoop' -ScoopGlobalDir 'F:\GlobalScoopApps' -NoProxy`

Switching to a Domestic Source

There are several domestic sources available online: https://gitee.com/squallliu/scoop https://gitee.com/glsnames/scoop-installer

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iwr -useb https://gitee.com/glsnames/scoop-installer/raw/master/bin/install.ps1 | iex
scoop config SCOOP_REPO https://gitee.com/glsnames/scoop-installer
scoop update

Installing Software Packages

scoop install kubectl 
scoop install helm 
scoop install wget 
scoop install curl 
scoop install 7zip 
scoop install aria2 
scoop install sudo 
scoop install -g extras/windows-terminal

If the installation gets stuck, consider configuring a proxy:

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scoop config proxy 127.0.0.1:18080 # Set HTTP proxy
scoop config rm proxy # Remove proxy

Configuring the Multi-threaded Download Tool Aria2

scoop config aria2-enabled false
scoop config aria2-warning-enabled false
scoop config aria2-retry-wait 4
scoop config aria2-split 16
scoop config aria2-max-connection-per-server 16
scoop config aria2-min-split-size 4M

Common Scoop Commands

scoop install "app name" # Install a package
scoop list # List installed packages
scoop status # Check for updates
scoop config # View configuration

Reference: https://github.com/ScoopInstaller/Install